NPA accuses the Armed Forces of the Philippines of lying to cover-up their defeats

The New People's Army in Rizal province vehemently denies targeting election personnel and a PCOS machine in their tactical offensive last 12 May. The statement made by the spokesperson of the 2nd Infantry Division of the Philippine Army, 2nd Lieutenant Frank Celeste Sayson, as reported by the Philippine Daily Inquirer, The Daily Tribune and other news agencies is a clear lie.

If the said news agencies bothered to check the veracity of the incident, they could have asked the people living in the area where the NPA tactical offensive happened. If they did their homework to present the truth, they will easily know that the joint platoon of government troops under 22nd Reconnaissance Company, 2nd ID-PA and the "Butcher" 16th Infantry Battalion – Philippine Army were not escorting PCOS Machines carried by members of the Board of Election Inspectors and Smartmatic personnel when they were attacked by NPA Snipers.

The said government troops were in the area since July last year. They are part of the Re-engineered Special Operation Teams (RSOT) of the 2nd ID-PA who are harassing, intimidating and accusing the farmers, settlers and Dumagat tribesmen of being NPA members and NPA-coddlers. They bring so much hardship to the mountain people, the very reason why they were targeted by NPA tactical offensive.

They were not escorting PCOS Machines and election personnel because the area where the NPA offensive happened is not a voting area and no election personnel nor PCOS machine is brought to the area. The nearest voting precint where the people voted last 10 May is located in the barangay proper of Sta. Ines, Tanay, Rizal, 5 kilometers away from the place where the NPA forces sniped the government troops.

Even at the voting place, there were no PCOS machine and election personnel because the election personnel with the PCOS machine already left the polling place early morning of 11 May 2010. The BEI and the Smartmatic personnel were already resting in their homes when the tactical offensive happened. They had a good laugh when informed that the Armed Forces of the Philippines is telling the press people that they were being escorted by AFP when the government troops came under attack by NPA Red fighters.

The statement by the 2nd ID-PA spokesperson is therefore a clear lie. To cover-up for their successive defeats in the hands of NPA-Rizal, the 2nd ID-PA-AFP led by Maj. Gen. Segovia is continuously lying to the public and to the media people.

They have always tried to hide the number of AFP casualties in their battles against NPA forces while being boastful when they arrest civilians like the Morong 43 health workers whom they presented as NPA bomb makers. They want to recover their battlefield losses thru black propaganda and distortion of facts.

But again, only the senior AFP officers believed their tales because the ordinary soldiers and junior AFP officers in the field know exactly the real picture of the government campaign to destroy the NPA, where failures and setbacks dominate. Besides, the people know the truth and could not be deceived by mere poisoned press releases by the AFP propagandist.

To the media people, we call on you to always verify the veracity of statements being given to you by 2nd ID-PA officers lest you'll be used as instruments to propagate lies instead of truth. Exert effort to seek the truth from the people where the incidents happen.